Dominic Salway, 35, escaped with a suspended sentence after a court heard he has arithmomania – a number-linked condition similar to obsessive compulsive disorder.

Sufferers have a strong need to count their actions or objects around them. Salway is obsessed with the number 11 and could not resist when he saw it on the registration of a Ford Fiesta left with keys in the ignition.

While the owner was inside a house buying an Xbox the number junkie leapt into the motor and drove off.

When police spotted him still behind the wheel the next day he drove off and led them on a chase through Stoke-on-Trent, Staffs.